"By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries".

A or F? How Congress scores on marijuana. 2. By Danielle Keane, NORML political director. 2016. "Of the 233 Democrats in Congress, 208 members (89.3 percent) received a passing grade of a 'C' or higher. Of the 302 Republicans in Congress, 102 members (33.8 percent) received a passing grade of a 'C' or higher." For your state see: Congressional Scorecard. NORML. Grading was based upon members' voting records.

The Detroit, MI rally for Liberation Day is held on the first Saturday of each May -- in keeping with the schedule set by 'Cures, Not Wars' -- at Grand Circus Park in Downtown Detroit. The annual rally begins at noon and usually lasts until 7 - 8 p.m., and includes speakers, bands, booths, displays, tables, and more.

The 2008 rally will be held on Liberation Day, which is May 3. Several current, past and aspiring pro-cannabis/hemp politicians, as well as local activists, will speak at this event. A live band and drum circle also add ambiance.

During the rally is the Million Marijuana March which is an international solidarity march of hundreds of participating locations. It organizes at 4:00 for a 4:20 kick off of the annual sidewalk occupation of Woodward Ave.

Cannabis displays, including the Shattered Lives display, will round out the event.

The event is co-ordinated by several persons, including Paul Pearson who independently runs the group DetroitLiberation.org (see [208]), and Jay Statzer, who runs 'Cures, Not Wars' of Michigan (see [209]). Other prominent participants include local anti-nuclear activist Hi-Lo Bob and Dr. Funkenstein, who runs SweetLeaf420.com (see [210]).

For more information on this event, please email paul@detroitliberation.org, or call 313.404.0619 or 313.622.3429.

For interviewers,

Nowadays, Jay Statzer can be reached at FreeDanaBeal@yahoo.com or 402 438 4577

Ronald Reagan, 1980 campaign speech1: "Leading medical researchers are coming to the conclusion that marijuana, pot, grass, whatever you want to call it, is probably the most dangerous drug in the United States, and we haven't begun to find out all of the ill effects, but they are permanent ill effects. The loss of memory for example."

This massive wasteful healthcare spending in the USA (compared to other rich nations) accelerated in 1980 (see chart below). How? It happened because non-profit health insurance was taken over by for-profit health insurance companies. They get a cut of all wasteful healthcare spending. The more wasteful, the more profits. Such as exorbitant drug pricing, expensive medical devices, overuse of emergency rooms. It is similar to how for-profit prison companies have an incentive to fill more beds, rather than rehabilitate prisoners.

Non-profit health insurance, and single payer healthcare, do not have these perverse incentives. So they tend to use more early preventive care that requires far fewer expensive drugs, devices, and visits to the emergency room and urgent care. Healthcare, like roads, should be publicly financed, and privately built. Private health insurance, like private toll road companies, are a kind of middleman mafia that skims profits, and shuffles papers, but don't actually do any real work.

Chart below shows the percentage of the GDP (national economy) spent on all healthcare costs (public and private) by year for some countries. Note that around 1980 US healthcare costs skyrocketed compared to other rich countries (all of which have universal healthcare, unlike the USA).

With Single-Payer Universal Healthcare people get healthcare no matter how much they work or not. And it doesn't matter if they lose their job, or change employers. People don't have to show they are totally disabled to get adequate healthcare. People can try to work now and then as much as their disability allows them, and not lose their healthcare. And they get drug treatment on demand if their pill use gets out of hand.

Sources: [25][26]"Goulao says 90 per cent of public money spent fighting drugs in Portugal is channeled toward those health-care goals — just 10 per cent is spent on police enforcement."[27][28][29][30].

"By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries".

A or F? How Congress scores on marijuana. 2. By Danielle Keane, NORML political director. 2016. "Of the 233 Democrats in Congress, 208 members (89.3 percent) received a passing grade of a 'C' or higher. Of the 302 Republicans in Congress, 102 members (33.8 percent) received a passing grade of a 'C' or higher." For your state see: Congressional Scorecard. NORML. Grading was based upon members' voting records.